Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1320 The South China Sea Comes to an End
Malacca was not an easy place to conquer. As early as the Portuguese era, a fortified fortress was built in Malacca, blocking this narrow sea passage. Moreover, the fortress was constructed as a bastion fortress, taking the Portuguese over thirty years to complete. When the Dutch attacked Malacca last time, the Portuguese had only a little over a hundred men there. Yet, relying on this bastion fortress, they held out against the Dutch, who outnumbered them by more than twenty times, possessing over forty warships and countless cannons. They held out for more than half a year until all hope of reinforcements failed and their supplies ran out, at which point they finally surrendered.

This clearly demonstrates how difficult it is to conquer Malacca. Currently, the Dutch have over 600 troops stationed at the fortress, six times the number of the Portuguese troops in the past. Furthermore, after learning that Batavia had fallen to the Ming Dynasty, the Dutch in Malacca had made preparations to hold out. The fortress is well-supplied, and the Dutch commander believes that with the strong fortress and their troops, holding out for a year is not a problem at all. As long as reinforcements from the mainland arrive, the Ming army will have no chance of success.

With Batavia lost, if the Dutch were to lose Malacca as well, it would mean the Dutch East India Company had lost its two most important strongholds in the Far East, with predictable consequences. However, if they could hold Malacca and await reinforcements, the East India Company might still have a chance to turn the tide, which was the real reason driving the local defenders to fight to the bitter end.

Zheng Hongkui used all his strength from the very beginning of the war. His main fleet suppressed the Dutch fortress in Malacca with powerful artillery fire, while his army landed near Malacca and was coordinated with the troops of Johor and Aceh to launch a two-pronged attack on the Dutch in Malacca.

The battle was extremely fierce. The Ming army's firepower was intense, but the enemy's fortifications were simply too strong. Despite the Ming army's superior numbers and artillery, the enemy's advantageous terrain made it difficult to capture the fortifications quickly. Helpless, Zheng Hongkui had few options and could only fight it out. The battle lasted for nearly a month. Although the Ming army maintained the upper hand, bombarding the fortifications daily with artillery, inflicting heavy casualties on the Dutch defenders, capturing Malacca was still far from easy.

Moreover, as time went on, Zheng Hongkui also had to guard against the possible appearance of the Dutch home fleet. Almost half a year had passed since the start of the war in the South China Sea, and if the situation continued to drag on, it would develop in a direction unfavorable to the Ming Dynasty. In order to resolve the Malacca issue as soon as possible, Zheng Hongkui gritted his teeth and decided to continue the offensive, maintaining the strength of the naval attack while strengthening the attack on land.

After a month and a half of fighting, the Dutch defenders were gradually becoming overwhelmed by the Ming army's prolonged and intense repeated attacks. Faced with a powerful enemy, the Dutch morale plummeted. In addition, Zheng Hongkui spent considerable effort transferring many cannons from warships to land and then finding a way to transport them to the other side of the enemy's fortress. After launching a relentless attack on the fortress day and night, even the most fortified fortress could not withstand such a powerful offensive.

Once the first breach in the fortress was breached, it was only a matter of time before the Dutch fortress fell. A few days later, the Ming army finally broke through the enemy's defenses and climbed onto the fortress for the first time. After a fierce battle, they gradually gained a foothold. As more and more Ming troops surged into the fortress, the Dutch fortress was beyond saving. By the next day, the Dutch, who had abandoned the outer perimeter and retreated to the core area of ​​the fortress, saw that the situation was hopeless and had no choice but to raise the white flag and surrender. Malacca finally fell into the hands of the Ming army.

After capturing Malacca, the Ming Dynasty controlled this vital sea route connecting East and West, thus essentially achieving its key strategic objective in the South China Sea campaign. With the fall of Malacca, the Dutch East India Company's other colonies in the Far East were utterly devastated upon hearing the news, for they knew all too well what the loss of Malacca meant.
Malacca was under Ming control. Even if the Dutch home fleet arrived, the Ming Dynasty could blockade Malacca, preventing the Dutch from entering. Without reinforcements, and having lost Batavia and Malacca, there was no point in continuing to hold out in the other colonies. The Ming army could easily eliminate them one by one. At this point, resistance became a futile sacrifice. Under these circumstances, the Dutch finally gave up the idea of ​​continuing to hold out and began to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

When Jacob, the Dutch East India Company director imprisoned in Batavia, learned of the situation and completely gave up hope and admitted the truth, Zheng Hongkui restarted official negotiations between the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands. However, this time the Dutch had no bargaining chips left, and they had in fact suffered a complete defeat in the Far East.

The Dutch, known as the "maritime carriers" and who had roamed the world, suffered such a crushing defeat for the first time. Yet, they still had to face the facts and sign the humiliating treaty. Even if Director Jacob was reluctant, he had no choice but to accept the reality. After all, despite the defeat, as a director, he still had to consider the safety of the East India Company's troops and civilians in the Far East and ensure their safe return to the mainland. This could be considered as fulfilling his duty and responsibility.

A month later, the war agreement between the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands was finally signed. The Netherlands admitted defeat, acknowledged the Ming Dynasty's unquestionable dominance in the Far East, and agreed to withdraw all its East India Company forces from the Far East, handing over Batavia, Malacca, and other occupied colonial territories to the Ming Empire. In addition, the Netherlands paid the Ming Dynasty a war indemnity of 12 million florins and ensured that the Ming Empire would transfer captured Dutch nobles, officers, soldiers, and civilians to the Kingdom of Netherlands.

By the time the war agreement was officially delivered to the capital and reached Emperor Zhu Shenzhui, the war in the South China Sea was basically over. Zheng Hongkui's army successively took over the various Dutch colonies in the South China Sea. Although the war lasted for nearly a year and the Ming army suffered considerable losses, they ultimately won.

Moreover, winning this war was of great significance. It not only established the political and military position of the Ming Dynasty in the Far East, but also once again declared to the world the Ming Dynasty's rule over the South China Sea. This marked a crucial step in extending the Ming Dynasty's sphere of influence from its homeland to the entire South China Sea region, after Zheng He's voyages during the reign of Emperor Chengzu, when the Ming Dynasty had gradually withdrawn from the South China Sea.

Moreover, in terms of gains, the Ming Dynasty received far more than it paid out. Although many people in the court opposed continuing the war on several occasions throughout the year, citing the persistently high naval expenditures and the so-called militarism, the war was ultimately a costly endeavor.

However, after the signing of this war agreement, all these dissenting voices vanished. The Ming Dynasty not only won a world-renowned victory through this war, but also, from the perspective of the victorious powers, gained unprecedentedly rich rewards. Besides seizing Dutch colonies, and ceding some interests to participating countries such as Britain, Portugal, Sweden, Poland, and Lithuania, the Ming Dynasty gained enormous wealth. Leaving aside the economic, political, and military significance of controlling Batavia and Malacca, the war reparations alone, amounting to twelve million taels of silver, were enough to cover previous military expenditures and even generate considerable profits.

The victory in the naval battle and the control of the South China Sea region were of great benefit to the future development of the Ming Empire. At the same time, this naval battle not only cut off the Dutch East India Company's tentacles reaching into the Far East, but also served as a warning to the Kingdom of Spain.

The Kingdom of Spain found various excuses not to participate in this war, intending to sit back and watch the two sides fight. They even secretly flirted with the Dutch during the war, intending to weaken the Ming Dynasty's naval power through the Dutch.

Unfortunately, the final result greatly disappointed the Spanish. They never expected that the powerful Netherlands would be defeated, and defeated so badly.

As the war drew to a close, the Spanish immediately changed their previously so-called "neutral" stance and actively moved closer to the Ming Dynasty. The Spanish were not foolish; among the European nations, besides the Netherlands, Spain was the most powerful in the Far East. Moreover, the Spanish, who occupied northern Luzon, were geographically closer to the Ming Dynasty. If the Ming Dynasty found a pretext to attack Spain after dealing with the Netherlands, Spain's strength in the Far East would be no match for it.

Left with no other option, Spain could only use this attitude to express its lack of intention to challenge the Ming Dynasty and to ensure its legitimate rule over northern Luzon based on normal diplomatic relations. Zhu Shenzhui considered Spain's stance carefully but did not refuse. After all, although the Ming Dynasty was strong, it had never intended to wage a full-scale war with the European countries. The reason for launching this war was that the Netherlands had repeatedly provoked the Ming Dynasty, even engaging in the heinous act of posing as pirates to rob and kill Ming merchant ships at sea.

If the Ming Dynasty does not go to war under these circumstances, the whole world will think of the Ming Dynasty as a pushover, a seemingly powerful but actually weak empire. This will inevitably affect the Ming Dynasty's image and hinder its expansion plans around the world.

Therefore, the Dutch had to be taught a lesson. Only by severely punishing the Dutch could the Ming Dynasty demonstrate its formidable military strength and deter other European countries. A nation's strength is not something that can be achieved through words, but through military force. Zhu Shenzhui was acutely aware of this, and this was the primary reason he decided to wage war.

Now that the Dutch have been defeated, the Ming Dynasty has achieved its goal, and the world is vastly different from what it was hundreds of years ago. Although the Age of Exploration ushered in a new era for the world, clashes between East and West are inevitable. Some things cannot be ignored, and the Ming Dynasty cannot afford to close itself off and bury its head in the sand. For the Ming Dynasty to stand at the pinnacle of the world, wealth alone is insufficient; it must keep pace with the times and actively engage with the world to secure a place for itself in the future.

The negotiations with Spain were not as high-profile as those with the Netherlands; they were merely "cooperation" between the two sides as part of normal diplomatic relations.

In addition to recognizing Spain's de facto rule over northern Luzon, the Ming Dynasty also acknowledged Spain's absolute control over the entire South China Sea region. Furthermore, Spain agreed to a joint partition of Luzon, with one side occupying the north and the other the south, thus resolving the issue of the Ming Dynasty's external fiefdoms.

In terms of commercial cooperation and politics, the two sides also signed a series of agreements. More importantly, in the New World region, for the first time, the Ming Dynasty and European countries demarcated the territory of the occupied areas in the New World. According to the goal of Spain, the western coast of the New World north of Central and South America was included. Spain recognized the legitimacy of the Ming Dynasty's ownership of this land. At the same time, the Ming Dynasty also reciprocated by recognizing the other party's legitimate occupation of Central and South America.

(End of this chapter)